Shards
by The Hoopla Bones
Summary: They have all been changed.
1. Cho

Cho

She keeps one eye open for trouble. She's going to go far and she's not going to be broken again. As long as she keep her head clear and her hands in her pockets no one will be touched, no one will be affected, no one is going to fall for anyone ever again. She cuts off her hair. She gets good grades. She dries her tears and gives away her broomstick. She leaves school, gets a good job. Gets a life. Keeps her memories in a constant unconscious state. Tries to forget. She's doing well. She's not unhappy. She is numb.

Inside she is screaming for him.


	2. Ginny

Ginny

She decides that she needs a new obsession. She watches carefully. She judges. She wants to choose well.

After her last choice, well, she wants something different. She doesn't want a grand statue to look at, never to have. She doesn't want someone she can't touch. She doesn't want a hero with a history so big it pushes everything away. She drops that obsession and thinks and tries to choose.

She doesn't want someone who doesn't care for her. She doesn't want someone she will have for a two weeks and then no more will be said. She wants a soul mate.

She reviews her choices. At times she wants to forget about her silly games and be alone. It will be better for everyone. No one wants her. She doesn't want anyone. She is alone. She is happy that way.

Then she see sees other girls with their long bright hair and their sparkling eyes and their pouting lips and makeup. She watches them fall. She watches them discover their mistakes and their faults. She sees the color leave their lives. She sees herself, drab and quiet and glowing inside, searching and running and dark. She sees her with her obsessions, and she knows that that life is not for her.

She stops looking. She waits. She is waiting for tender kisses and warm arms and soft long hair and chocolate. She is waiting for love. Maybe she will find it.


	3. Hermione

III. Hermione

She knows how it's supposed to end. She's a smart girl. She studies hard. And, well, he always adored her and how can she say no to even the smallest bit of adoration? When you're the smart girl no one falls in love with you. No one sees you. No one dances you away under the stars among the roses on a moonlit night. You're just books and dust and ink and exam answers. So she soaks up any romance that comes her way and doesn't think twice about it.

It's almost funny the way these things work out. She always had the answers but now she's asking the questions. He still adores her. But she's full of adoration now. She soaked it all up and now she isn't hungry. She feels empty and full. At night, she dreams of different eyes looking at her than the closed ones beside her. For the first time in her life the smart girl wants change.

What will the smart girl do this time? Somewhere she knows that there are eyes like the ones she dreams about. She knows that someone is waiting for her. Someone who will kiss her in a different way than she's been kissed. Someone who will hold her in a different way than she's been held. She has to find change.

She leaves a note on the kitchen table and doesn't think twice.


	4. Parvati

IV. Parvati

Now that she's out of school, what is she going to do with herself? She could travel. She could have adventures. She could stay at home and be quiet. She could do great things. She could have peace for the first time. She is lost.

A steamy summer day by a lake. School is out for good. She is beautiful and she knows it. Everyone should be watching her now of all times, but they are nowhere to be found. Her mirror image is watching her from the other side of the lake, beautiful as she is. They are alike. They are one. They are lost.

Her watch ticks around to the little black 12 and she stands and walks to the school for the last time.


	5. Luna

V. Luna

She wonders about everything. Why is it that her life is so fanciful, insane? They think she's crazy. They laugh at her and her wide pale eyes and long pale hair. She thinks they are crazy. She almost likes the fear she makes them feel even when they don't notice it. They stand back from her. She is an outcast. She believes everything everyone told her not to believe.

She is not lonely when all she has is herself and all she needs is pain. She's not crazy. She wonders. She ponders. She isn't quick and sharp. She is loose and dreaming and wild. They think she's insane.

She wants to howl at the moon just to prove them right.


	6. Intermission

**INTERMISSION/EXPLANATION  
**

Sometimes stories are broken into pieces. You must collect all the shards of a mirror before you may see the image within. Then you look at the whole and you recognize each piece from when you picked it up, examined it, studied it, and fitted it into its proper place. You see? Now you can understand the whole of the story, and each piece may mean more to you than the entire story together. Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it doesn't.

Each shard is a miniature story of its own. There is love and hate and obsession and pain. Just remember that each shard has a place where it fits perfectly with the whole.


	7. Marietta

Marietta

They all called her a sneak, after that night. They said she was a coward. They said she was weak.

She knew she wasn't weak. She was just looking out for herself. Getting in trouble was the last thing she wanted to do now the world was coming to an end and everyone was picking sides. Every day they glared at her from behind the refuge of their superior goodness and courage. She wasn't foolhardy or brave like that. She was _smart_ and let them call her weak if they wanted to.

She convinced herself she had done the right thing that day.


	8. Part Two

**PART TWO**

**Explanation II**

Every broken mirror, pieced together after a fall, needs a rim of onlookers to hold the shards in place. Otherwise the pieces will fall into a jumbled pile and will never sort themselves out. Anyone who's tried to put a broken picture frame together again knows that you need a metal frame to hold the glass in. Even when the shards of a story are on the verge of making sense, they still need something around the rim to hold them all together. They need strength from the outside to discover the memories inside themselves.


	9. Minerva

Minerva

Minerva has taught Transfiguration for a very long time. She is just as adept at handling students as complex spells. She is good at changing things into other things but as a person she is very honest. She is solid. She likes rules. It's almost ironic that the woman who teaches children how to bend the laws of physics can herself be so steady.

She isn't cold. She's strict but warm. She knows that some of her actions cause students to dislike her, but she also knows that they are very loyal. Minerva has been teaching for such a long time. She knows how to handle these things.


End file.
